Page 94 of Nine Month Contract
We pull up to Max’s house, and Wyatt gestures for me to come inside with him. It’s hot out, so I oblige, and we walk through the house and spot Everly and Cozy outside by the pool, reading in some lounge chairs.
“Uncle Wyatt!” Ethan bellows as we step onto the back deck. He’s dressed in swim trunks with snorkel goggles on and comes sprinting toward us, barreling right into Wyatt and wrapping his arms around his legs.
Wyatt picks him up like he weighs nothing and holds him over his shoulder. “Ready to go for a swim?”
“Yes!” Ethan cheers, and I watch in horror as Wyatt walks to the deep end of the pool and launches Ethan into the water.
“Oh my God, Wyatt,” I exclaim and glance over to see that Everly and Cozy look perfectly fine with this. “Can he swim?”
“Oh, he’s fine.” Cozy waves me off and then lowers her sunglasses. “Hey, how was the ultrasound?”
I take a moment to recover from the shock of the toss that surely must have given that kid a concussion, but Ethan emerges from the pool, looking unscathed.
“Again, Wyatt, again!” he yells, padding over to him, dripping wet.
Wyatt prepares him for another launch, so I turn on my heel and sit down on the patio chair next to Everly to collect my thoughts before another splash sounds off behind me. I wince and force a smile. “The ultrasound was great. All the growth stuff looks good, my fluid is normal. I still haven’t felt the baby move, but the doctor says any day now. Do you remember what it feels like?”
“With Ethan, it was like bubbles at first. Little tiny pops inside me,” Cozy says with a big smile. “Then when he got bigger, it was like…holy shit, there’s a human doing backflips in there.”
I nod slowly. “I think I’ve been feeling the tiny pops, but I always just assume it’s digestion stuff. I’ll have to pay closer attention, I guess.”
“Did they see the gender?” Everly asks excitedly.
“They did.” I gesture over to Wyatt. “He has the sealed envelope.”
Everly smiles big and drops her book to run over to her uncle to retrieve the big intel.
“It will be a miracle if she keeps this a secret,” Cozy says with a smile. “Oh, hey, I have something for you! Come inside with me. Wyatt, I’m stealing Trista for a bit.”
He frowns curiously at me as Cozy wraps herself in a caftan and drags me onto the deck toward a second patio door farther down along the house. She leads me through a primary bedroom and attached bath and into a huge walk-in closet.
Good Lord, these people really are loaded.
“Would you be interested in any of my old maternity clothes?” Cozy asks as she pulls a huge tote off a shelf and cracks the lid open. “I know they’re seven years old now, so some are a little dated, but I think there’s still some good pieces in here.” She begins to lay them out on the plush carpet flooring. “I just washed them, so they’re clean. And if you don’t want them, that’s totally fine too. I just know I’m done with them and going to donate if you’re not interested.”
“I’m interested,” I blurt out and kneel on the floor to examine thesizes and selection. The clothes are a little more colorful than I’m used to wearing, but I can look past that because I’ve yet to purchase one real maternity outfit. From what I can tell, maternity clothes are the devil, and plus-sized maternity clothes are the devil’s bowel movements.
In fairness, I haven’t done a lot of shopping yet. Mostly because I still don’t think I even look pregnant. Since I’m tall, I think the goat turd is just sort of stretched out in there or something, which results in me just looking thick or bloated. Not really pregnant.
Super hot.
But I know my belly has changed because none of my jeans button anymore. The only maternity thing I did manage to buy was some belly-band thing you can wear over the top of your jeans, but I need to find something decent because jeans won’t be nice enough for the baby shower in a couple of weeks.
“Can I pay you for them? My contract with Wyatt has a clothing stipend, so I can give you something for all this.”
“God, no.” Cozy waves me off. “I’m just glad someone can use them. Do you want to try some on to see how they fit? Maybe I can help you pick something out for the shower in a couple of weeks?”
Relief washes over me because I’ve been having serious anxiety about this shower ever since I got the fancy invitation in the mail. I actually called Everly to tell her that I didn’t think it was necessary for me to be there. It’s really an event for Wyatt, and since I’m not even obviously pregnant yet, it’s not like I’d be some cute display item.
But that girl does not take no for an answer.
I even asked Wyatt if he could get me out of it on our way to the ultrasound appointment earlier today, and there was a flicker of disappointment in his eyes over the fact that I didn’t want to come. And after everything he did for me and the chicken coop, I didn’t want to let him down. I guess I’m going to the friggin’ baby shower.
“I would love help picking out what to wear for the shower,” I reply to Cozy. “I’m such a jeans-and-T-shirt girlie, and you guys all looked so nice at the graduation. I don’t want to look frumpy.”
“Oh my God, you couldn’t look frumpy if you tried,” Cozy chastises, her green eyes rolling to the ceiling. “And even if you did lookfrumpy, no one cares.” She pauses and bites her lip. “Except maybe Wyatt’s mom. That woman is sweet, but she loves to offer friendly feedback.”
Her candid response makes me laugh and instantly like Cozy. She’s more relatable than I expected her to be. Yes, she’s living in a mansion with a pool and a guesthouse and has a closet bigger than my whole apartment in Denver, but I get the sense that she came from humble roots.
